Esquire Makes it Official: Minka Kelly is Sexy

Derek Jeter's babe has led an interesting life

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In the latest sign that life is working out well for Derek Jeter, his girlfriend Minka Kelly has just been named Esquire magazine's "Sexiest Woman Alive."

The "Friday Night Lights" star edged out such lovely ladies as Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer Aniston and Marion Cotillard to win the honor. In the accompanying interview, it becomes clear that there's more than just a beautiful face and perfect body to attract the Yankee shortstop. Kelly, who just five years ago was working as a scrub nurse in such gruesome operating room procedures as amputations and craniotomies (a bone flap is temporarily removed from the skull to access the brain, the article helpfully explains), had an interesting but tough life growing up.

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Although she does have a certain showbiz pedigree by way of her grandfather, actor Richard Ney, Kelly's mother was a stripper who got pregnant by erstwhile Aerosmith guitarist Rick Dufay, who didn't stick around. The mom and daughter lived in Los Angeles, moving around frequently.

"My mom lived a fast life," Kelly, now 30, said. "It was all about what we could do to have fun with nothing."

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While she was in junior high, Kelly and her mom ended up in Albuquerque, where her mother's boyfriend sold tamales Minka helped make out of a car. She got the scrub nurse job after moving back to Los Angeles. A former Playboy Playmate helped her get a gig answering phones at a surgeon's office so she could get free breast implants, according to Esquire. But Kelly called the deal off, got fired and went to school to become a surgeon's assistant.

She did the grisly gig for four years before an audition for a new show called "Friday Night Lights" paid off and launched her career. Now she's famous, dates a future Hall of Famer and has hit the big 3-0.

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"I think it's the most exciting birthday I think I've ever had," she said. "I'm so excited to be a woman. Done with the twenties. I'm confident — confident in my skin, and I'm cool with my flaws and all that stuff."